Virola sebiferaAubl.

virola

WFO wfo-0000418491 Accepted WFO 2026-06 7 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–g · 3 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 3 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Virola sebifera, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. a Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-03-24 / obs. 66821348
Virola sebifera, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. b Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 56226681
Virola sebifera, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. c Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 66821389
Virola sebifera, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. d Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 55310313
Virola sebifera, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. e Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 66821374
Virola sebifera, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. f Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 66821632
Virola sebifera, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. g Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 55310299

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 16 botanical countries

Regions where Virola sebifera is native: Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela BoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaEcuadorFrench GuianaGuyanaHondurasNicaraguaPanamáPeruSurinameVenezuela
Native distribution of Virola sebifera, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Bolivia BOL SOUTHERN AMERICA
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Ecuador ECU
French Guiana FRG
Guyana GUY
Honduras HON
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Peru PER
Suriname SUR
Venezuela VEN

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 19 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Knema sebifera (Aubl.) Peterm.
  • Myristica cordifolia Mart. ex A.DC.
  • Myristica mocoa Poepp. ex A.DC.
  • Myristica panamensis Hemsl.
  • Myristica sebifera (Aubl.) Sw.
  • Myristica sebifera var. cordifolia A.DC.
  • Myristica sebifera var. curvinervia A.DC.
  • Myristica virola Raeusch.
  • Palala mocoa (Poepp. ex A.DC.) Kuntze
  • Palala panamensis (Hemsl.) Kuntze
  • Palala sebifera (Aubl.) Kuntze
  • Virola boliviensis Warb.
  • Virola mocoa (Poepp. ex A.DC.) Warb.
  • Virola mycetis Pulle
  • Virola panamensis (Hemsl.) Warb.
  • Virola peruviana var. tomentosa Warb.
  • Virola sebifera var. curvinervia Warb.
  • Virola venezuelensis Warb.
  • Virola warburgii Pittier

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.